


falling apart to half-time

by theriveroflight



Series: From Under the Eiffel Tower: Spin the Record [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Ballroom Dancing, F/M, Murder, is it endgame if they both die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27808162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight
Summary: She says she's no goodWith words but I'm worse
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: From Under the Eiffel Tower: Spin the Record [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2015888
Comments: 15
Kudos: 18
Collections: Miraculous: Spin The Record Challenge, October 2020 - Dark





	falling apart to half-time

**Author's Note:**

> Title and summary from "Dance Dance" by Fall Out Boy.
> 
> Time for the two more famous songs! I had a hard time with this one, but I also have a piano version of this downloaded to my phone, so this came out classier than it would have otherwise.
> 
> Special thanks, again, to Khanofallorcs and Ginhwi for beta reading.
> 
> This also qualifies for the Dark event on the MF server, I guess.
> 
> WARNINGS: graphic depictions of murder, knives, see tags/archive warnings

Luka pulls Marinette in for a dance.

They both know the doom that’s coming for both of them. The party is almost over; Luka knows by the end of it, their relationship will be, too.

One way or another. 

The piano is playing something soft in the background that they dance to.

Marinette is a thorough dancer, having learned some proper-ballroom, and Luka follows her lead at first, but they trade back and forth on the lead. Neither of them wants to surrender to the other.

The ball is a charity ball that Kitty Section was invited to — they’re a semi-acclaimed band in Paris, they get invited to special occasions sometimes — galas, award shows…it’s still a novel experience to Luka, suit and tie events, but Adrien was a huge help for him.

And Marinette looks like a vision in cherry-blossom pink in the suit she made herself. Despite mentally dubbing it a suit and tie event, Luka is actually the one wearing the dress — it was part of an agreement that Kitty Section had made for this particular event. Proceeds will be donated to an organization supporting members of the LGBTQ+ community, so he and Ivan are wearing dresses, with the girls wearing suits. 

Luka doesn’t want to forget this experience.

It  _ sucks,  _ and he should hate it, but  _ Marinette _ . He’s always loved her, but he also knows that she’s not being completely honest with him. The secret-keeping has been going on for two years, since Marinette got a “new job” and  _ quit  _ designing. Which was terribly out of character for Marinette. The change comes with more trips. Sometimes she comes back hurt, or with crutches and a cast, or something else.

Luka knows that Marinette was once Ladybug, and helped her when she had to hand back the box to the Temple and lost all memories of the few years she was Guardian (though not those from being Ladybug).

Luka had been planning to propose for a while. But the new job has made Marinette more distant from him, and he is no longer certain if he wanted to.

And then…he finds out. Marinette is working for an organization as an assassin after that organization found out she was once Ladybug.

He never wanted her to hurt herself, over and over again, and it breaks his heart that he has to leave her.

Maybe leaving will get her to realize what she’s doing. Maybe leaving will make Marinette  _ understand  _ that it’s for the best if she quits that job.

Luka has always hated secrets and lies. He is a believer in open communication — it is something his mother taught him to value. “You know, Marinette,” Luka says, “perhaps it’s for the best.”

Marinette glares at him in return. “I could take you out in at least half a dozen different ways.”

“Half a dozen? I expected more.”

“Most of the ways I know are too easy. Not that I  _ want  _ to kill you,” she says, lightening her tone towards the end, as though she is telling him a funny story. “If I need to, I will. And no one will be any the wiser.”

“Are you sure that I’m not prepared for it?”

Marinette smirks, and Luka  _ knows:  _ in that moment, that she  _ could  _ murder him and get away with it — but not for his lack of ability to fight back.

He would choose not to fight against her, really. And  _ that  _ would be what dooms him.

“I'm certain that you’re  _ prepared.  _ But you would surrender.” Marinette lifts a hand from his waist to caress his cheek.

Luka uses one of his hands to tilt her chin up, and they kiss. It’s slightly scandalous for the middle of a ballroom dance floor. Luka keeps his guard up around her, and he can tell that Marinette isn’t relaxing into it either.

“Do you think the clock has tolled yet?” Marinette asks.  _ Do you think this is over? _

“As much as I don’t wish for it…yes.” Luka knows it’s time for him to carry out what he needs to do, too.

They head out arm in arm. Marinette picks up her purse from the front. As they walk out, he hears the sound of a pocketknife clicking.

“So you were carrying that all along,” Luka muses, and then kicks Marinette in the abdomen with a stiletto heel. “Good thing I came prepared.”

It’s easy to conceal things in dresses. Security wasn’t very detailed — apparently none of the names attending were big enough to warrant quality security. He withdraws his own weapon, a dagger strapped to his thigh.

“How long have you known?” They circle around each other.

“Since I was assigned to kill you,” Luka answers. “No longer than that, though I certainly wondered. I was the only one who knew who Ladybug was. I was going to give you the opportunity to run and fake it, but…”

Marinette laughs. “I had no idea you had a side job. Or any teeth to bite me back with.” The kick ripped her suit, but she’s not bleeding.

“Well, are you still willing to take the deal? Because you can run now. And I’ll still let you go. I’ll tell them that you’re dead, and as long as you change your appearance a little and your name, I think we’ll get away with it,” Luka says.

“I was assigned to kill or recruit anyone who knew I was Ladybug. I got Chat Noir to join. But now I know what I have to do with  _ you,”  _ she spits. 

“Well, Marinette, which option are you going to take? Because there  _ is  _ a way that leaves us both alive, or renders both of us dead.”

“You really think both of us are going to die?” she asks. “How cute.”

And then she attacks. Fighting in heels isn’t something Luka’s done before, but it lends him an extra weapon if he can keep his balance well enough. She has the advantage, being in sturdier shoes.

He spots the coating on her knife.  _ Poison.  _

Well, he’s not letting Marinette walk away — and Marinette won’t let him walk away.

He lets Marinette think she’s won with a scrape that releases the poison into his body, but while she’s close enough to stab him, he stabs her between the ribs.

“Ow,” Marinette croaks. Oh, he punctured a lung. Well, it’ll be a quicker death for her than him. 

Some time passes — he can't tell exactly how much.

He watches the light go out of her eyes. He can see Rose and Juleka coming towards him — they would all be heading in the same direction, after all.

His vision blurs, and he feels incredibly dizzy, falling in a splay of ribs and dress. He notices that his head ends up near Marinette’s shoes — what a set they make, symmetric to the end.

He barely registers Juleka’s voice yelling at Rose, telling her to call 112.

And in the end, he doesn’t notice anything at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to subscribe to the SERIES, not this work. That way you can be informed of all the future works.
> 
> And join me on the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) if you're interested in meeting a growing community of creators and Miraculous Ladybug fans - where we both hold informal challenges like this and more formal challenges like exchanges.
> 
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